Spatial Representations and the Jacobean Stage offers a timely alternative to theatre criticism’s neglect of the intensely spatial character of theatrical performance. The book shows that early modern audiences were highly aware of the spatial aspects of the stage. West examines the ways Jacobean dramatists used stage space to explore the spatial transformations of early modern society – social mobility, wandering populations, rural enclosure, sea travel, localized empirical thought. Dramas by Shakespeare, Jonson, Middleton and Webster are scrutinized for their treatment of these controversial themes.